Recently in my physics class we were discussing the speed of light... My question is if the speed of light slows down when it eneters a new medium (such as water form air) and then speeds up again when it hits air... how slow can the speed of light go? I know that if the speed of light is the fasting thing (even if you disagree, just say it is for these questions) then when the light speeds up agian when it hits air it can't reach speeds over that of light...(duh?) But are there any scientists who have made the speed of light decrease so much that you could acually watch the light travel through the air? Even if not how slow has it been made to travel? I would like any information on this...(recent information...) and preferably reasearch to back yourself up...like a website...thank you!
2007-04-19 10:42:09 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
stop the light compleatly by turning out the lamp ;)
2007-04-19 11:00:55 · answer #1 · answered by bulletprooflonliness 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, you are off. Time actually moves at the same rate, relatively. What I mean is if you were with the clock that was moving near light speed(if it actually moved at light speed it would convert to raw energy and be lost.. as a clock) it would seem as though only 10 seconds had passed ( you would only age 10 seconds ), but on Earth your twin would age quite a bit more. It is certainly hard to grasp the "why" of this, but if the smartest talkin monkey that ever lived believed it(Einstein) we small brainers are just gonna have to accept it. The weird part is if you went for a ride at near light speed for say a year, the human race would likely destroy itself in your absence( it would be like a couple thousand years later or so....).Everyone you know will have perished of old age, even if we managed to stay alive as a race.
2016-05-19 00:59:42 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, ignore the two previous answers. Obvious spammers or wannabe's.
Has the speed of light been demonstratably slowed? None of the research that I have done (not a whole lot, but a little bit) would indicate that this is true. However, it is THEORETICALLY possible, for example, by passing light through a gravitational well (like around a black hole).
I am somewhat baffled on how light could return to the 'original' speed after leaving this area.....seems to violate the laws of conservation of energy, but perhaps I'm missing something here.....anyone else have an information/suggestions?
2007-04-19 10:54:15 · answer #3 · answered by Ron R 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Slowest speed is 38 mph achieved in a Sodium Boson-Einstein Condensate (Na BEC).
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20011210/bose-einstein.shtml
2007-04-19 10:59:08 · answer #4 · answered by catarthur 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know how slow it can go, but i know that scientists have made matter slow down to about 4 kelvin, and if light were to move through that matter, it would slow down a lot.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
i just wanted to point out that it is impossible to slow something down to a COMPLETE stop. You can get near it, but not absoluteley stopping.
2007-04-19 10:54:11 · answer #5 · answered by The Ponderer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A physicist around the year 2000 slowed it to 38mph using a bose einstein condensate.
2007-04-19 10:46:26 · answer #6 · answered by vanman8u 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the index of refraction of the material is large, light will move slower thru that material. Things can move faster than light moves in water or in glass. Electrons have been made to move through water faster than light moves through water. But nothing can move faster than light moves in empty space. It is that speed that relativity refers to.
2007-04-19 11:43:52 · answer #7 · answered by Jeffrey K 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Researchers have actually succeeded in stopping light altogether. See this website about that ==>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1124540.stm
2007-04-19 10:47:20 · answer #8 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋